Adjustable chair.



A. N. HORNUNG.

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR.

APPLIOATION'HLED Nov. 11, 190s.

Patented 001;. 18, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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WII'lIEE EE.: Wm l ANTON N. HRNUNG, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 11, 1908.

Patented Oct. 18, 1910. Serial No. 462,108.

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTON N. HORNUNG, a citizen ofthe United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Chairs, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to adjustable chairs, particularly to that class inwhich hydraulic mechanism is employed, and contemplates improved means`whereby the raising and lowering and the back and forth tilting of thechair may be effected. In this art it has constantly been the purpose tosecure an arrangement whereby the various desired adjustments could beeffected through the medium of a single operating lever, and to obtainthis result it was found necessary to employ quite complicated andintricately assembled structures.

It is the object of my invention, to provide a device which willcomprise a minimum number of simply constructed and easily assembledparts and wherein the various mechanisms will have positive and detiniteactuation. With these ends in view, I`

have constructed an arrangement wherein the actuating lever has adetermined stroke in which to operate the hydraulic pump mechanism toraise the chair. Further, in accordance with my invention, I providemeans whereby a supplementary movement at one end of this stroke willeffect the lowering of the chair while an additional movement at theother end of the stroke will effect the release of the mechanism whichnormally maintains the chair rigid to permit the tilting thereof.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view illustrat ing an adjustable chairembodying the features of my invention, parts being broken away todisclose parts which will be referred to specifically; Fig. 2 is a planview of the parts to which my invention is particularly directed. Fig. 3is an elevational view of the upper end thereof. Fig. 4 is a detail viewin cross section on the line 44 of Fig. 2, looking in the directionindicated by the arrows; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view, on aslightly enlarged scale, taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, and looking inthe direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 6 is therefore, i

a cross sectional view taken on the line mof Fig. 5, and looking in thedirection of the arrows 6, 6. Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view taken onthe line of Fig. 5, and looking in the direction of the arrows 7 7. Fig.8 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 8 8 of Fig. 5, and lookingin the direction indicated by the arrows.

Like reference characters are applied to the same parts throughout thevarious iigures.

The adjustable chair of my invention is primarily supported upon astationary base 9 which is provided with the upwardly extendingcylindrical housing 10 which, as will be noted, incloses and formssupporting means for the adjusting mechanism which terminates in a plate11. Upon this plate is rigidly secured the seat 12 which has securedthereto the upwardly extending arms 13 and 14. To the arm 13 at 15 ispivotally secured the back member 16 which is provided, as usual in thiskind of a chair, with the pivotally mounted head rest 17.

To the arl.r 14 is pivotally secured at 18, the rocking lever 19 whichextends upwardly from-.its point to be pivot-ally connected at 20 to thearm 21, which in turn is pivotally connected at 22 to the back 16, anddownwardly to carry the front rest member 23 and the auxiliaryfoot-board 24. It is evident that the various pivotal connections whichhave been described will admit of the simultaneous movement of the back,arm and foot-rest member as a resistant structure into and out ofreclining position to different desired degrees.

Referring now particularly to the adjusting mechanism, the first memberto be considered is the outer cylinder 25, which is firmly supported inthe housing 16 as follows: At its upper end this cylinder is providedwith the outwardly extending flange 26, which rests upon the top of thecylindrical housing 16, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and is heldin place by the connecting bolts 27, which pass through registeringopenings in the flange and base 9 respectively. Within this cylinder 25is operatively disposed the plunger cylinder 28 which is enlarged at itsupper end into a squared portion 29 for a purpose hereinafter referredto, and terminates in the plate 11, which has been mentioned before.This plate has the notches 30, 30 for the reception of bolts havingthreaded engagement with the under side of the seat 12.

The cylinder 28, is provided, in its bottom wall, with a concentricallydisposed valve 31 which is vertically guided by the engagement of thecentral pin 32 thereof within the cross-piece 33 which is secured to theannular ridge 34 on the under side of the plunger cylinder. The valve isfurther guided by the radial strips 35 which engage in the central partin the plunger and is held against its seat 36 by means of the helicalspring 37, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. The upper side of the bottom wallof the plunger cylinder is provided with the annular boss 38 which hasthe radial grooves 39 for a purpose hereinafter explained, the pin 32 ofthe valve extending slightly above the boss, as shown in Fig. 5, tosecure its direct mechanical operation as will be pointed out.

Inside the plunger 28 is operatively disposed the reciprocating piston40, which engages the cylinder at the top and bottom thereof and has theintermediate conical portion 41. The piston is hollow as indicated indotted lines in Fig. 5 and is provided in the' top wall thereof withopenings 42, 42 and in the bottom wall thereof with an opening 43 forthe passage of fluid. The opening 43 is controlled by the valve 44 whichis pivoted at 45 in the bosses 46, 46 on the plunger and normally heldin its closed position by the helical spring 47. The valve member 44 isspread, as shown in Fig. 6, to escape the central boss 48 which, as wlllbe described, engages the pin 32 to open the valvel 31. lThe limit ofreciprocation of the piston is not defined by the natural stroke of thecrank later referred to, but has positive stop means at either endthereof for that purpose. The downward movement of the piston ceaseswhen the bosses 46 thereon strike the annular boss 38. The upwardmovement thereof is limited as follows: The resultant stroke of thepiston 1s less in length than the conical portion of the piston and atthis conical portion the plunger cylinder is provided with the sideopenings 49, 49 in which are loosely disposed the wedge blocks 50, 50,which are tapered to correspond to the slant of the cone. It is apparentthat in its upward movement the piston will at some point be wedged intoinertness, thus defining the stroke.

The piston 40 is connected by means of a connecting rod 51 with a crank52 operating in the enlarged housing 29 and secured upon the main shaft53 by means of a set bolt 54, this main shaft being mounted inthehousing and in the downwardly extending portion 55 on the plate 11and provided at its outer end with a securely mounted operating lever56. The connecting rod is connected with the piston as follows: The rodpasses through an enlarged central opening 57 in the piston and isprovided at its lower end with a nut 58 between which and the inside ofthe upper wall of the piston the helical spring 59 is disposed. Ashoulder 60 which engages the piston proper is provided upon the rod andguides 61, 61 are provided for obvious purposes.

The plunger cylinder 28 is to be partly filled with some fluid, oilbeing preferable. The operation of this hydraulic pumping mechanism isas follows: The pumping stroke of the operating lever 56 is slightlyless than that which would effect the complete downward movement of thepiston. In other words, the pumping stroke does not bring the boss 48into engagement with the pin 32. Thus, upward movement of the pistonwould cause the fluid to open the valve 44 and pass through the opening43 into the plunger' cylinder below the piston. The next downward strokeof the piston forces the fluid accumulated therebelow to open the valve31, the valve 44 then being closed, and pass through the port controlledthereby into the outer cylinder 25, t-hus raising the plunger cylinder28 and the chair carried thereby. The plunger then being incumbent uponthe fluid it is clear that the fluid will close the valve 31. To assistthis action the valve 31 is hollowed out on the under side as shown indotted lines in Fig. 5, thus directing the fluid to exert the forcel inthe most effective direction. The under side of the plunger cylinder isalso hollowed,-

as before stated, and for the same purpose. ln the succeeding upwardstroke of the piston another volume of fluid will flow therebelow andthe downward stroke will force that volume into the outer cylinder tostill further raise the plunger, and so on until the desir-ed height ofthe chair has been reached.

lVhen it is desired to lower the chair the operating lever is turneddown to its fullest extent, that is, until the boss 48 on the under sideof the plunger strikes the pin 32 on the valve, thus opening the same tothe extent determined by the positive engagement of the bosses 46, 46with the annular boss 38 on the plunger cylinder. It may here be notedthat the grooves 39 are for passage of oil. At t-he same time thedownwardly extending portion 44a on the valve 44 strikes the bottom ofthe cylinder and, both valves being thus opened by positive and directmechanical engagement, the fluid may passl upwardly therethrough int-othe plunger cylinder and above the piston in consequence of the pressurecaused by the weight of the chair, and, probably, an occupant thereof.Thus the chair may gradually descend until the plunger cylinder' strikesthe bottom of the outer cylinder.

evase@ In order to control the tilting of the chair l to allow theoccupant to assume a reclining position, the following construction isprovided: An auxiliary shaft 62 is mounted parallel to the main shaft 53in the downwardly extending lug 55 and auxiliary housing 63, itsengagement with the housing being a screw engagement whereby rotationthereof will edect a translatory movement. Inside the auxiliary housing63 are mounted the clamping blocks 64, 64 with one of which the end ofthe shaft 62 has effective engagement as shown in Fig. 3. The otherblock 64 is adjustably held in position by the set bolt 65 engagingtherewith and having threaded engagement with the housing. A stoutspring 66 is coiled about the shaft 62 and its terminals arerespectively connected with the shaft and with the plate ll, as shown,this spring tending to revolve the shaft in a direction whereby it willforce the clamping members together to tightly grasp the sliding rod 67`disposed therebetween. This rod, as shown, in Fig. l, is pivoted at 68to the foot-rest member 23 and it is, therefore apparent that clampingthe rod will positively determine the position of the back and foot-restarrangement.

In view of the fact that the spring 66 normally holds the rod rigidly,it is clear that means must be provided to release the rod when it isdesired to tilt the back and footrest structure. To this end, I providethe shaft 62 with an arm 69 rigidly secured thereto and extending towardthe shaft 53. Rigidly secured upon the shaft 53 is a cam arm which isarranged to engage the arm 69 and to move the same against the tensionof the spring 66, which movement will obviously effect the release ofthe rod. As has been pointed out, the movement of the piston L t0 islimited by the wedging action between the conical portion thereof andthe blocks 50, 50 and the point at which this wedging action takes placeis so predetermined that further actuation of the operating leverpermitted by the compression of the stout spring 59, will serve toeffect the releasing action just described. Thus the parts are soarranged that the cam arm 70 just engages the arm G9 when the piston hasreached the upper limit of its movement, and further movement of theoperating lever will throw the parts into the position shown in dottedlines in Fig. 4.

Resuming the operation briefly, it is this: The pumping strolre raisesthe chair as above described; an additional movement of the lever in thedirect-ion of the arrow a, (Fig. 5), causes the valve and pistonmechanism to come together to lower the chair as has been explained; anadditional movement of the operating lever in the direction of the arrowb, after the piston has reached its stop, effects movement of theauxiliary shaft in the direction of the arrow c. This releases theclamping mechanism and the chair may be tilted to any desired degree.Removing the'force from the operating lever allows the spring 66 to actand the tilting parts of the chair will again be rigidly clamped inposition.

It is clear that the plunger cylinder, which carries the chair, may berotated at will, relative to the outer cylinder, which is rigid with thebase, in whatever position the plunger may be brought by the pumpingmechanism.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desirecovered by Letters Patent, is: l

l. In an adjustable chair, having tilting parts, in combination, a mainshaft, a hydraulic pump operatively connected with said main shaft, anauxiliary shaft, a clamp controlled by said auxiliary shaft forcontrolling said tilting parts, and means whereby said main shaft mayaffect said auxiliary shaft during part of its operation.

Q. In an adjustable chair, having tilting parts, in combination, ahydraulic pump for raising the chair, an operating shaft, yieldingconnection between said shaft and said pump, a clamp for controllingsaid tilting parts, an auxiliary shaft for operating said clamp, andmeans whereby said operating shaft may actuate said auxiliary shaft tooperate said clamp against the tension of said yielding connection.

3. In an adjustable chair having tilting parts, in combination, ahydraulic pump for raising 'the chair, an operating shaft, an operatinglever therefor, yielding connection between said shaft and said pump, arod extending from said tilting parts, a clamp for said rod, anauxiliary shaft for operating said clamp, means for positively limitingthe movement of said pump, and means whereby said operating shaft mayactuate said auxiliary shaft to affect said clamp to release said rodafter said pump has come to rest.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANTON N. HORNUNG.

Witnesses IGNoz Doi-livin., GEO. S. Pixies.

